The Fifth Commandment

Directed by: Jesse V. Johnson

Starring: Rick Yune, Keith David, Bokeem Woodbine, Dania Ramirez, Roger Yuan

Synopsis:

His parents killed in a crossfire between two assassins, young Chance is taken under the wing of The Jazzman (Keith David) and trained in the deadly arts to follow in his footsteps, while the Jazzman’s real son, Miles, is left out in the cold. When Chance is given a contract on Angel, a diva-like singer touring Bangkok, he discovers his estranged step-brother is working as her security. He defaults on the contract and heads to Bangkok to warn his brother that a whole lot of trouble is heading his way...

Review:

You will probably recognise Rick Yune and his impossibly chiselled cheekbones from the likes of The Fast and the Furious and the Bond movie, Die Another Day. Here he takes centre-stage as writer, producer and star of The Fifth Commandment .

With the help of first time director Jesse Johnson, who has a huge resume as stunt coordinator on loads of big budget movies, Rick has crafted a mostly generic story about an assassin disobeying orders which is lifted by some good character work and big action set-pieces.

Villain Roger Yuan kick-starts the movie in style with a scene set in 1976, and he looks superb – the hair, beard and costume make him look like a villain from an exploitation movie of the period. Keith David plays The Jazzman, another assassin who seems to have a code that he lives by – no women, no kids. His relationship with his real son Miles and his adopted son Chance is what is at the heart of the film.

For a relatively low-budget movie, The Fifth Commandment contains a number of nifty action scenes which wouldn’t be out of place in bigger movies – a well-handled car chase/gun battle and a base-jump escape from an assassination being a couple of the highlights. The dvd cover boasts the pedigree of the stunt-teams involved and it definitely shows onscreen. The gunfights are reminiscent of classic Hong Kong movies, where people are shot multiple times rather than just once.

Rick Yune handles his first spotlight role with aplomb, meeting the physical challenges and throwing himself into a role that calls for quite an emotional range. There is only one scene which I feel with some coaching he might have approached differently. What is refreshing about his character though is that he isn’t particularly looking for redemption, or to quit as an assassin (the usual clichés) – it is only his long lost brother’s appearance which has stopped him from taking the job.

Although Rick Yune is covering a lot of roles behind the scenes, The Fifth Commandment isn’t an ego fluff piece. The supporting cast is full of recognisable genre actors who all get decent screentime. Top of the list is Keith David (John Carpenter’s The Thing, Pitch Black) who provides a mix of pathos and gravitas to his role as a baddass assassin and mentor to Chance. Bokeem Woodbine plays Miles, the brother who shows Chance that he doesn’t need to be so fatalistic. Dania Ramirez (Maya from Heroes) plays Angel, the targeted Diva who’s plummeting record sales have prompted her manager to have her killed. She handles her role well, coming off a lot like Jennifer Lopez. It is her character which has the biggest emotional arc, starting off as a spoilt brat and facing a lot of her problems to become a more mature person by the end of the movie.

There are a few problems with The Fifth Commandment which basically boil down to a lack of polish. In an interview on the DVD Rick talks about the problems he had having to rewrite scenes on-set and unfortunately it does show at times. Certain scenes needed more rehearsal and there is evidence of plot strands which were cut due to budget/time restraints. The film is peppered with interesting characters, such as a Russian ex-pat working for the Thai police, played by Lex de Groot. He has a huge amount of screen presence and it would have been great to see more of him. Unfortunately he’s only in two scenes.

Verdict:

Time and budget constraints mean this isn’t as polished as some would like but it is a solid action movie boasting some good set-pieces and a strong cast, and is miles better than a lot of movies Segal and Van Damme have been guilty of.

7 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)